Published: October 28, 2009 08:59 am      

Two killed on Laurel roads

By Samantha Swindler / Managing Editor

A 23-year-old woman was killed when her four-door Kia Optima collided with a milk truck on KY 363 in Keavy. It was the second fatal car crash in Laurel County in as many days.

Tuesday’s wreck happened at 11:49 a.m. just in front of a home at 1985 KY 363.

Tara Prewitt was headed southbound on KY 363 when she apparently lost control of her car under rainy conditions, striking an oncoming Southern Belle milk truck that had just left the nearby Keavy Grocery.

KSP Trooper Mike Witt came upon the scene near Wilson Road within minutes while driving in the area on routine patrol.

“I heard a big wreck, I was in the house when I heard it... It was a bad wreck. They wreck here all the time,” said nearby resident Ronald Cassidy.

Cassidy called 911 and went outside to see the damage.

“I seen that girl sitting there, and she wasn’t moving,” he said.

Prewitt was pronounced dead at the scene due to massive internal injuries. The driver of the FL70 Freightliner milk truck, Earl Brock Jr., 46, of London, was uninjured in the wreck.

The front of the milk truck rammed into the passenger side of Prewitt’s car, creating such a forceful impact that the truck’s “Freightliner” grill plate was found hanging over the Kia’s steering wheel.

At least two baby play blankets were in the back seat of the car, but there was no child in the vehicle.

“She just lost control in a curve, probably due to roadway conditions,” said Kentucky State Police Dec. Mike Bowling.

No drug or alcohol use is suspected. Prewitt was wearing a seatbelt.

On Monday, 35-year-old Aprill Hall, of Campground, was killed in a single-car wreck on KY 229 in Laurel County at about 5 p.m.

Deputy Coroner Chris Vanover said Hall died at the scene from a broken neck. One of her tires apparently dropped off the edge of the road while she was driving. She overcorrected and the vehicle flipped.

Hall was a mother of four and an employee of HSBC in London.